1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of appliances and, more particularly, a vertically adjustable wheeled platform assembly adapted to support an appliance cabinet, such as a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many types of appliances are commonly found in domestic households. These appliances include clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, ranges and refrigerators. In the case of the latter, there exist various styles of refrigerators on the market. Most common are side-by-side, top mount, and bottom mount models. In a side-by-side model, fresh food and freezer compartments are arranged laterally adjacent one another. A top mount refrigerator includes an upper freezer compartment and a lower fresh food compartment. Finally, bottom mount models have the fresh food compartment located above the freezer compartment. One advantage of the bottom mount design is the ability of the consumer to view the contents of the fresh food compartment without having to bend over or stoop. However, it may still be desirable to adjust the height of the refrigerator to reduce the amount of bending or kneeling required to access portions of the freezer compartment or to simply further raise the shelving of the fresh food compartment.
In the art of household appliances in general, it has become customary to equip heavy domestic appliances with wheel assemblies or casters to enhance the mobility of the appliances. Often, it is also desirable to permit some degree of vertical adjustability between the appliance cabinet and the surface upon which the wheel assemblies are supported for leveling the appliance. One example of such a vertically adjustable wheel assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,408. Typical supports for refrigerators are adjustable only to the extent of allowing for leveling of the appliance and are not intended to act as overall height adjustment devices for refrigerator cabinets.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a raised platform assembly for an appliance, particularly a bottom mount refrigerator, which can readily take the place of other leveling and/or moving hardware, and that has the advantages of vertically adjustable wheels for supporting the appliance.